


Counting Stars

by TheLynx



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fluff, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3990145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLynx/pseuds/TheLynx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple night in the Emerald Graves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Stars

“Hey, Bull, do you have a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something.”

The warrior turned his head, pausing his hand in the middle of sharpening his greataxe. “Sure, boss,” he said. He stood up fluidly and lay down the weapon, hilt in the grass and head on top of the tree stump he had just vacated, clearly marking his spot. “I take it this ‘talk’ isn’t going to require any weapons?”

“Might need your sword, chief,” Krem offered from across the campfire. Dalish snickered into her ale.

Iron Bull waved a hand, not looking back at the Chargers as he followed Cyrnarel without a retort, the elf grabbing his right hand once he was close. He was led through the thick forest of the Emerald Graves, which would have made him a little uneasy in this darkness if he didn’t put so much trust in the rogue leading him, who could see fairly well by the starlight.

“This is neither a talk nor a walk, Cyrn,” he said after a while. He wasn’t disappointed; on the contrary, his curiosity was piqued. He just wanted to know what was going on.

“I’ve been wandering around a bit,” Cyrnarel began excitedly. “Never been to the Dales before. I mean, before the Inquisition, that is. My clan’s been through Ferelden and the Marches, but never Orlais.”

Bull nodded when they looked at him eagerly, encouraging them to go on. “So I wanted to check out the elven ruins around here. Whatever Solas says about them, they’re my people’s history and they’re important, you know? After exploring a bit, I found a spot, and I wanted to show it to you, yeah?”

“You wanted to take me around ancient ruins in the middle of the night? It’s usually easier to appreciate things when you can actually _see_ them.”

They let out a mildly frustrated sigh. “Yes, but—”

“But you wanted to have sex in them?” A devious grin made its way onto Iron Bull’s face and Cyrnarel blushed deeply.

“No! Creators, no.” Bull knew that already, but he liked to tease. “C’mon, you’ll see once we get there, alright?”

“Alright, kadan.”

They continued moving uphill, climbing until the trees became sparse and the moonlight touched the grass beneath their feet. The area outside of the forest wasn’t particularly large—mainly because the ground dropped out just a few yards in front of them, as they were now on top of a sheer cliff. Bull recalled seeing it from a distance a few days earlier.

In front of them and to the left, peering over the side of the cliff, sat a statue of Fen’Harel, behind which was a large, clear grassy area almost surrounded by trees. A few flowers and weeds poked out from the ground.

Cyrnarel pulled him the short distance over to that clearing, not giving him time to admire the view from the top of the cliff, instead taking him to the middle of the grassy area.

“I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be looking at right now,” Bull said. The only thing of note was the statue, but there were tons of those lying around the Dales. He looked at his lover questioningly.

“Lie down, on your back.” Bull raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told, lying back on the ground with hands folded over his stomach. Cyrnarel joined him, lying next to him.

It was relaxing, but then again, lying down at night in general tended to be that way. The elf beside him seemed to disagree, his whole body thrumming with energy.

“Do you see those stars there?” Cyrnarel said, pointing up at the sky. Bull blinked—he hadn’t been focusing on the stars, even as he’d looked up, but now that he did, he realized they were particularly bright. Must be the cliff they were on, he figured, and the lack of clouds tonight.

“We’re stargazing?”

“Yeah. I thought it’d be nice. I haven’t done it in a while, since sometime back with my clan before the Conclave. We don’t really get the time to relax here.”

He grunted in acknowledgement. “Qunari don’t usually pay attention to constellations, but if you asked me, I’d have to say that one looks like a dragon.”

The elf laughed softly. “My people say that’s an owl, the messenger of Falon’Din.”

“The god of death?”

“Close.” They touched their face, which was marked with vallaslin honoring that god. “You could say that. He’s nicer than that sounds, though. More compassionate.” They pointed at another constellation. “What do you see there?”

“Hm… I might have to say a dragon.”

“Bull!” They laughed again, a delicate, wonderful sound that wrapped tenderly around Bull’s heart. Their laughter was all too rare, and the man treasured the moments he heard it. “Try halla.”

“Alright then. Are you sure there’s not at least one dragon out there?”

“See those stars, to the left?” They were still pointing, this time drawing the figures in the air as they explained. “There’s the head, and then the spine goes down, and of course there’s the wings…”

Cyrnarel sighed and rolled over, taking a moment to lean up and kiss Bull’s lips before placing their hands on Bull’s chest. They rested their cheek on their hands, torso lying on top of Bull as their legs remained on the ground, and Bull placed his hand gently on their back.

“Thanks for this, kadan,” Bull said quietly, noting another sigh as Cyrnarel felt his voice rumble through his body. They smiled at him contentedly. “This is… nice.”

“Good. I was worried you’d think it was too sappy or something.”

He chuckled. “Cyrn, I know you like people to think that there’s no more to you than daggers and anger, but I like it when you show this side of you. Makes me feel all special and soft inside. And I…” He stopped, not quite sure he should say any more.

“I love you too, Bull.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by One Republic's "Counting Stars" (music video [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT_nvWreIhg)).


End file.
